


Temporal Functions

by hexagonalslugs



Series: Circadian Rhythm [4]
Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: Age Difference, Angel fic, Angels, Fluff, M/M, Wings, flangst, wing fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-18
Updated: 2013-09-18
Packaged: 2017-12-26 14:21:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/966951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hexagonalslugs/pseuds/hexagonalslugs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yusuf visits Rauf after being encouraged by the others. Takes place between chapters 14 and 15 of Sleep Latency.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Temporal Functions

Rauf knew it would happen eventually. He just had to be patient. Good thing Rauf was about ninety percent patient otherwise the past few cycles would have driven him insane. Angels important to the academy, as in those who trained other angels, including those who became mentor angels, got most, if not all their memories during the time when most soldiers had none. Rauf was the deputy commander of the academy and was important enough to be given free leave to his memories. He wished he wasn’t though. He’d gotten to watch all his friends grow up and sent off to war and sometimes not come back.

 

The worst though was having to watch Yusuf grow up, get older, sometimes be mated with a breeder, and then… it started all over again. And he couldn’t do anything. All he could do was watch over him and sometimes help him. But he didn’t want to too much. He knew soldiers were idiots and thought all sorts of things about others who were favored by the higher ups. But this cycle he couldn’t help himself. He missed Yusuf. It had been decades since he’d actually been able to do anything with Yusuf other than help him progress with his training at arm’s length.

 

After the assault most angels had gone home to be with their Keepers since they’d squashed the last human ‘resistance’ who were taking pot shots at them from a distance until their angel army had obliterated most of them. So the academy was quiet. Rauf’s Keeper was one of the proeathan admins who ran the academy though so he had nowhere else to go. The academy was his home. It had been very empty the past year.

 

Rauf just wanted Yusuf to come see him. He hadn’t sought the younger angel out because it wasn’t done. Not for what he wanted. He’d let Yusuf come to him. He was being patient, but it was hard. He wasn’t getting any younger and his cobalt feathers were starting to gray. He just wanted to see his life mate this cycle before his Keeper culled him. His Keeper didn’t like Rauf when he was too old. So long as Rauf could keep up he was allowed to live but once he started to show his age he got put down. Rauf didn’t mind, he hated being old, being slow, being weak. But if that happened he’d have to wait even longer to see Yusuf. As it was the past few decades had been such a strain on his heart.

 

He did his best not to dwell on it. Instead he was looking through the next batch of soldiers in his office, his big wings cast around him to ease a small ache in his joints. For the next few generations, even now that the stupid war had calmed down, soldiers would stay at a high level. But without a need for them their numbers would dwindle and the actual monstrous soldiers they bred would degrade into normal soldiers and their soldiers would degrade into guards. Unless needed their army would shrink to a third its current size. But that wouldn’t be for perhaps another hundred years, once the humans well and truly accepted that they weren’t alone on this planet anymore or the top dog, and no the proeathans didn’t want to kill them. They just wanted to be left alone to try and fix the world the humans had somehow so badly mutilated. In the back of his mind though he was thinking about Yusuf.

 

When Yusuf came back to the academy, he was almost surprised at how empty it was. It even smelled empty. His feet carried him through the complex, and he stood before the wide, heavy door with a fidgety twitch in his wings. He knew Rauf knew he was standing there, and Yusuf knew Rauf was just inside. What Yusuf didn’t know is what he wanted to say. Or even what he wanted to do. He finally just let himself in and went to sit in the stool like any other time he’d been called into the office. Yusuf dipped his head, hands fisted so tightly in his lap that his claws dug into his palms. He had become a lot less apprehensive the moment he stepped into the room and was enveloped in the scent of him, both recently and distantly familiar. “I’m sorry,” was what he said, staring at Rauf’s desk, the curve of his wings that he immediately recognized as a way to ease an ache.

 

As soon as Yusuf had stood outside his door Rauf knew. He knew and he sat totally still like breathing wrong would be enough to send Yusuf away again. Then he'd come in and Rauf felt a strain in his body he hasn't known he'd been carrying around with him loosen. His wings sagged a little somehow feeling better than they had in a long while and his face softened.

 

"Oh Yusuf," he said. "There's nothing to be sorry for. You had no idea," unlike some other life mates he knew (Desmond) Rauf did not and would never blame Yusuf for his actions while he wasn't himself. To Rauf there was nothing to forgive, nothing to blame. All he cared about was that his Yusuf had returned to him and that from now on her never have to suffer watching Yusuf from afar.

 

“I’m sorry because I’m late.” Yusuf looked up at him, wings shuffling behind him. He knew he’d taken an extraneously long time since getting his memories back. He’d been a stupid kid about it like Altair had been about Desmond. “You don’t get any younger until you are culled,” he said, knowing that he’d wasted time he could have spent with Rauf.

 

"Well I'm not going anywhere now," he said and stood up. "And I'm not dead yet," he tucked his wings back behind his back though it sort of pained him. Both he and Rashid were getting old and were more active than most angels because they trained other angels. Their wings would always hurt now. Rauf's aches were manageable still though and he could hide them. But that didn't mean the ache in his wings went away.

 

"Get up. I really want to kiss you," Rauf said. He'd wanted to do that for so long. Tell Yusuf he wanted to and know that Yusuf wouldn't freak out about it. Stupid soldiers. All he wanted for decades was to kiss his life mate. Just once. Just once and he could be happy. It would have made the waiting easier to bear.

 

Yusuf was around the desk in moments, wings and feathers betraying his turmoil and excitement. He pressed his mouth against Rauf’s, and realized he’d been missing this almost just as much. Yusuf seemed to be trying to wrap himself up in him while at the same time trying to hold himself back because he just knew Rauf was in a dull, constant pain, and he couldn’t bring himself to make it worse even if he wanted to both tuck him in his wings and curl up in his lap.

 

They were far from the way they had been the last time they were so close.

 

Every tight part of Rauf unraveled when Yusuf kissed him. He'd missed this so desperately it was like he was breathing clear air for the first time in a long time. There was nothing he didn't love about the way Yusuf felt pressed up against him or the feeling of Yusuf's mouth on his. He held Yusuf tight to him, wrapping his arms around him. His wings fanned out a little before he pulled them back and kept them still. Moving was pain, stillness was not.

 

They kissed for a long time and Rauf didn't know if they stopped to breathe or not. If they did was irrelevant. All Rauf cared about was kissing his mate. The thought made him pull away a little, but not far enough away for Yusuf to not be able to chase his lips. He hasn't had a mate in decades. His Keeper didn't matchmake him, preferring to keep him where he was useful at the academy and not have worry about mates or babies. He blinked at Yusuf happily. The thought thrilled him. He kissed Yusuf again, gentler this time, without so much urgency. They had time.

 

Yusuf was trilling quietly, and it was more like purring. He was out of breath, and it didn’t really make much of a difference, he still cooed at him anyway. “How did you stand it? You always knew, didn’t you.” He’d still somehow ended up in Rauf’s lap.

 

"I knew," Rauf said and ran his hands up Yusuf's thighs slowly, enjoying the feeling of his skin. "And I knew one day you'd remember again," he pressed one hand to the small of Yusuf's back, "one day you'd come back to me," he stroked Yusuf's face gently. He'd been waiting for this day for decades. Now it was here. He didn't know if he could even stand ever having Yusuf out of his sight again. He wanted Yusuf close, always.

 

He honestly didn’t care what Rauf did. His hands were warm, and calloused and familiar, and he finally knew why. Yusuf couldn’t help the huge smile on his face. “It must have hurt to watch me for so long. Watch me do all of those stupid things I did.” Even now there was a tickle in the back of his head, totally amazed that he was letting another soldier touch him, even though that soldier was his superior and was practically his life mate.

 

The bond was relatively new, Yusuf’s Keeper had a monopoly on his genes to keep him a soldier. He never had a chance. “I saw… Altair’s and Malik’s fledgelings,” He said after a while, humming low and happy in his chest. “They are so small and warm and covered in fluff.”

 

Rauf chuckled, “Yes, they do tend to be that way,” Rauf said and rubbed the small of Yusuf’s back. “Though when I see them they’re considerably less cute,” meaning he got to see young soldiers when they were a bit older, not so covered in down and ready to punch anything that looked at them wrong.

 

"What about me?" He asked, head tipped to the side. Yusuf smiled, wings unfolding. Rauf wasn't of the same small stature he had been, but he was still compact for an angel. By comparison, Yusuf was nearly always a little lanky. He still fit in Rauf's arms and lap. Barely.

 

Rauf's smile was nearly blissful, "You were always cute," he assured Yusuf, giving his chin a playful tug. "Always my favorite, even when you were fighty," since no soldier was really immune to how they acted when they were young and ready for a brawl.

 

Yusuf’s feathers rose, embarrassment showing more in how his feathers and wings moved than in his face. He wasn’t quite sure how to breach the subject swimming in his head. “Have… you wanted me the whole time?” He asked slowly.

 

"The whole time," Rauf said softly and kissed him again. There were brief periods when he was young and didn't have his memories that he didn't miss Yusuf, didn't desire to touch or kiss him. But in his life those years were fleeting. "Since the academy started and I was made deputy commander. I've always missed you," he said and nuzzled against Yusuf's cheek. He could still smell the lingering scent of baby angels on Yusuf's skin from being around Malik and Altair's. He was surprised how much he liked it.

 

He pressed a kiss against Rauf’s jaw. “We can make up for all of that,” Yusuf offered, voice quiet and more of a coo than anything. He shifted in the older angel’s lap, hoping that he wasn’t putting his legs to sleep with his weight. Though he guessed he didn’t exactly weigh a ton, but he certainly didn’t weigh next to nothing.

 

Rauf made an agreeable noise in the back off his throat and buried his face in Yusuf's neck. Yusuf smelled nice and Rauf honestly barely knew what to do with himself. After so long of waiting, now that he had Yusuf in his lap he barely knew what to do about that. Kissing his neck seemed like a good idea. As did pushing his hands up under Yusuf's tunic to run his rough hands along his spine.

 

Yusuf let himself arch under Rauf’s hands. It pressed him against his chest, and he didn’t mind that one bit. Some tiny part of him was totally indignant about the fact that he was being handled and touched by another soldier, but the rest of him was totally for this. “I’m… okay if you want to do more, I just… it’s been a long time.” Too long.

 

"I wouldn't push you," Rauf told him gently. He knew how soldiers were. He was one after all. He knew how this must grate against part of him, a part that was nearly disgusted he was allowing another soldier this close. Must soldiers got pissy and started fighting if you tried to penetrate them. How many young angels got beat to hell for his students 'experimenting' with each other? Far too many. "I wasn't even going to ask," there wasn't really a point. He might have wanted it though. But it wouldn't do anything.

 

“Then… just… don’t stop touching me,” Yusuf said quietly, wings rising until his feathers spread out completely. They were no longer quite as pretty as they had been, but they retained some of their color - mostly in the iridescence of the blacks. “Please,” he added, delivering a chaste little peck to Rauf’s lips.

 

Rauf smiled, "I can do that. But perhaps we could move?" his thighs were starting to hurt. "Between this uncomfortable chair and you my butt has started to hurt," he sort of teased, one of his hands going up Yusuf's flank under his tunic. It was such a useless thing right now. Rauf really did just want to pull it off. He wanted to go lay down and pull Yusuf on top of him so he could continue to touch him, smell him, but most importantly, kiss him.

 

“Oh. Yeah, of course,” Yusuf scrambled to get off of him, wings fluttering uselessly. “Where should we go then?” Rauf’s office wasn’t exactly a place meant to be completely comfortable. The way he said it meant more that he didn’t want to move far.

 

Rauf stood up with a slight groan. His knees hurt a bit and he adjusted his wings to be comfortable for walking. "This way," he said taking Yusuf's hand and leading him out of the office.

 

The academy was his home. He had no place at his Keeper's home. His only place was here. He liked it like that.

 

Rauf took Yusuf upstairs to where he and Rashid had their own quarters, nicer than anything in the rest of the academy. Inside his room it smelled like fresh bread and cranberries. "Here," he said, his home. He rarely brought other angels here, Yusuf had never been.

 

He was unreasonably excited to be led into Rauf’s room. Yusuf seemed to be bouncing while he went in and observed every little thing. It was just so… Rauf. Everything smelled like him, and food, but also him, and he wasn’t sure if he should feel ashamed for being aroused by that. He cooed, and came back to stand before him.

 

Yusuf slid his hand into Rauf’s, sure that his pupils were a bit dilated. “I just want to bury myself in it,” he said.  “I don’t want to be anywhere that doesn’t have your scent.” This, all of this was what he’d been missing. Rauf’s hands, and his callouses, and the little feathers that showed up at the corners of his jaw. His smell. Their smell.

 

Rauf smiled as Yusuf went to explore his room. Normally he didn't even like people in here but for some reason with Yusuf it was okay. He liked seeing his Yusuf in here. Rauf sat until he was done, wincing a little before making his wings comfortable.

 

He stood back up once Yusuf was done inspecting the place. Instantly he was keyed in to the fact that Yusuf /smelled/ turned on. Rauf physically couldn't help but react to it. Soldier or not this was his life mate, basically Yusuf breathed and Rauf was turned on.

 

Rauf wrapped his arm around Yusuf's waist. "I think that can be arranged," he assured Yusuf and kissed him. As he did his hands went to Yusuf's waist and then around to his ass and then down a bit. With ease, despite old bones, Rauf picked Yusuf up from under his thighs, still kissing him, and walked them over to the bed. He put Yusuf down and then pushed him back against the mattress and pillows and blankets, kissing him and letting his hands roam down Yusuf's legs slowly to pull them around his waist.

 

Tightening his legs,  Yusuf pulled his hips up, mostly to finish getting his wings out from under him, but fuck, that felt really good. He rubbed Rauf’s shoulders, and then his very sparsely feathered arms. He remembered seeing him with feathers absolutely everywhere, and though Rauf had been overly conscious of them, Yusuf loved them. They gave him an excuse to be touching him nearly all the time, with so many feathers to keep clean.

 

He looked up at Rauf with a smile, one that hadn’t seemed to leave his face since seeing him. “I’m okay,” he said, as if Rauf was worrying. And he was okay, mostly. It was kind of like a switch, like Yusuf’s body forgot it was supposed to be acting like a big bad soldier.

 

"Just... tell me if you get uncomfortable," Rauf said, though was relieved that Yusuf was okay with this. He knew that things could go from okay to not okay for soldiers pretty quickly. So he just wanted to do what Yusuf would like.

 

One thing Rauf really wanted to do was take that damn tunic off Yusuf. He knew Yusuf wasn't soft, neither of them really were, but he didn't... really care right now. He tugged at the bottom of Yusuf's tunic while he kissed him. He couldn't decide which was more important. Kissing Yusuf or getting him naked. Frankly they were both pretty high on the 'has to happen right now' list.

 

It took him a couple of seconds, but he caught on to the fact that Rauf wanted the tunic off now, so he was trying to slip it from his arms. Yusuf didn’t even remember why he’d put it on. His Keeper had been pretty relieved to see him clothed, perhaps. He fought with it for a few moments more, and got it out of the way. He just wanted Rauf’s hands on him again.

 

Rauf ran his hands along Yusuf's chest and then down his flanks back to his thighs. Every part were good parts as far as Rauf was concerned. They all felt and smelled good.

 

Once Rauf was at least partially satisfied with how he'd mapped out Yusuf's body he turned his hands to a different purpose. He reached down to Yusuf's bump and ran his band against it. He pressed his thumb into the slit where Yusuf's cock was sheathed. Penetration was completely out of the question, Rauf didn't even bother to entertain the thought. But just because they weren't going to fuck didn't mean he couldn't get Yusuf off our make him feel good. Because Rauf had every intention of that.

 

Yusuf’s chest jumped, and he keened quietly. He ground up against Rauf’s hand, coaxed out of the sheathe by his fingers. Clearly, he liked that, and clearly, he also had no idea what to do with himself. He hadn’t even been mated before the assault, and had been left pretty much to fend for himself while he and his body knew that pretty much everyone else was getting some. And then they’d all come back to the academy smelling like breeders and sex, so the handful and a half of the less fortunate soldiers were left even more frustrated.

 

Here Rauf was doing basically what Yusuf had fumbled to do for himself, but it was more than a thousand times better. One, because he knew what he was doing, and two, because it was Rauf, for crying out loud. He even remembered coming to Rauf to ask for duties, something to take his mind off the fact that he wasn’t breeding someone. At the time, he hadn’t thought about whether or not Rauf felt similarly.

 

Rauf sat back between Yusuf's legs, which were still coiled around his waist, so he could use both him hands easier and not hurt either of them with his claws. At least unlike Yusuf’s Rauf’s were filed down some, to help prevent scratching or accidental clawings. It made sense for him, since his hands were rarely used for fighting now. He tugged on the end of Yusuf’s cock to make it more interested in what was going on since he was still half sheathed. He grinned when it came out all the way and lay against Yusuf's belly rather uselessly.

 

Rauf was rather proud of himself for it actually since soldiers were notorious for having a hard time unsheathing without a breeder around. He squeezed it to make Yusuf squirm in delight. “Someone needed some attention after the assault huh?” Rauf teased him with a grin. Rauf had just learned to ignore his urges for the most part. He only wanted Yusuf and wasn’t going to get him so it was pointless to not just take care of whatever frustrations he had with his own hand.

 

He leaned down to kiss Yusuf again and rocked his hips against Yusuf’s. His body needed very little other prompting to unsheath and rauf groaned a little. Decades of waiting for this and his body was literally aching for it. He really wished Yusuf wasn’t a soldier right now. He was happy to get Yusuf however he could manage but… he wouldn’t lie in saying he wish Yusuf was breeder right now.

 

“I wasn’t paired before it,” Yusuf managed, hot and ready and pliant below him. His toes curled behind Rauf and his wings twitched when he was kissed again. Yusuf was left breathless, the last of it slipping from his mouth in a whine. At that moment, he didn’t care if Rauf fucked him. He wanted to feel good and forget about all the stupid fighting they had to do.

 

"Poor thing," and Rauf wasn't even teasing him. He put his forehead against Yusuf's. "Too bad you didn't remember anything," he kissed the end of Yusuf's nose and took a firm hold of his cock, squeezing it. It made Yusuf squirm again and Rauf liked that. Rauf adjusted how he was over Yusuf before he changed up where his hand was so it more encircled both of them. Rauf groaned when he moved his hips to rub against Yusuf, his wings flapping a little.

 

Yusuf was a softly whimpering, but happy mess. "I want... I want you to fuck me," he said rather suddenly, voice more moan than anything. He must have figured out how to ignore that stupid little part of him in favor for everything else that practically screamed to be filled and fucked into.

 

He might not smell exactly like a breeder, but his body still responded that way, and rather than be appalled like a soldier would, he chose to take it as it was. Yusuf's body wanted something, and he voiced that even though it still embarrassed him. Rauf's hand and the weighty heat of his cock pressed up against the underside of his own was perfect, but he wanted more.

 

Yusuf felt him alright, there was no denying that, but he wanted to feel him and whine and buck and hate that they'd had to fight this stupid war and forget that he ever forgot his Rauf. He needed to be reminded that he was always Rauf's.

 

“You want-” Rauf trailed off when his brain properly caught up with what Yusuf had just said. The feathers on his hair flared up with interest. Oh he was in to that. Quite literally too. Or he was about to be.

 

Rauf leaned down and nuzzled against Yusuf’s neck and face, kissing his jaw and his throat. “You’re exactly what I want,” he told Yusuf softly, adoringly. He bet Yusuf felt sort of awkward about this. He wasn’t soft or giving or pretty like a breeder was but Rauf didn’t care. “I missed you,” he said and kissed Yusuf sweetly, “So much,” he pressed his forehead against Yusuf’s briefly, “Every day,” another kiss on the lips. “I love you,” he kissed Yusuf again. Love was different now, it was something angels felt in a different capacity than humans, or even proeathans did. Most angels didn’t get attached to each other except for as friends. Sometimes as life mates but it wasn’t the same as love. Love was something angels had had to have known as a human-avian to understand.

 

Yusuf let his head tip back, and when Rauf kissed him, he returned it eagerly, and was markedly less sloppy. With a soft noise, Yusuf opened his hips even wider.

 

"I miss you now, for all the time I didn't remember," he cooed quietly. "But you're still mine,"  Yusuf said, the old word tumbling from his mouth.

 

“Yes I am,” Rauf agreed and grabbed Yusuf’s leg. If Yusuf wanted to do this he wasn’t going to let his chance go or he might have to wait not only till his next cycle but Yusuf’s too. He groaned in relief when he pushed in and leaned over Yusuf, his wings fanning out over them like a feathery done. “And you’re mine,” he kissed Yusuf again and rocked his hips forward and inward.

 

Yusuf inhaled sharply, then arched. His breath shuddered for a while until he regained control of his diaphragm. "Yes, yessss," he whined, hips pushing back against Rauf. He was surprisingly okay with this.

 

Rauf’s nails scratched at Yusuf’s thigh, drawing raised lines on his skin but they weren’t sharp enough to penetrate flesh. As a typical soldier though Rauf didn’t last very long, only a few short minutes before he came with a strung out warble. He held himself up over Yusuf, panting heavily, feeling completely exhausted.

 

With a groan he pushed himself off and onto his side, his wings limp beside him. He felt so tired, more tired than he probably should have been. He was too old for that sort of rigorous activity. “I’m too old for this,” he groaned, his wings also sort of hurt.

 

Yusuf made a mess of his stomach when he came - much earlier than Rauf had. He watched him, purring and cooing at him. His body curled against Rauf’s while he tucked himself under his wing.

 

Rauf was happy when Yusuf attached himself to his chest and he felt a need to sleep come over him. At least Yusuf didn’t need help to finish, because Rauf was tired. He curved one of his wings over them and then twitched it a bit till it felt comfortable. He reached over to stroke Yusuf’s chin with his thumb, “That was really nice,” he said in a rough voice and nuzzled him affectionately.

 


End file.
